Taxus 121 



Another and perhaps the largest pure yew-wood in England is on the downs 

 three miles west of Downton, Wilts, on the property of the Earl of Radnor. It 

 is known as "The Great Yews," and contains about 80 acres. The trees are not 

 remarkable for their size, and appear to have been partly planted, as the largest 

 are at regular intervals and of about the same age. Probably at a time when 

 yew - wood was wanted for bow - making an existing wood was filled up with 

 planted trees, and no doubt these yews could tell some striking tales. Mr. E. P. 

 Squarey, who took me to see them, and who has seen little change in them 

 during the last 60 years, pointed out one under which some tramps had been caught 

 in the act of roasting a sheep they had stolen, and related various tragedies which 

 had occurred in this wild district in bygone times. 



" The Little Yews " is the name of another wood about half a mile from the 

 " Great Yews," which, though not of such large extent, contains much finer trees, 

 many being from 8 feet to 10 feet in girth and 50 feet high. As in other yew woods 

 (at any rate where rabbits exist) I found few or no young trees coming up, and the 

 mixture of beech, ash, oak, thorn, whitebeam, and holly trees which are found in 

 the more open spaces all appear to be self-sown. Several of the largest trees 

 have been recently blown down. 



After the Midhurst and the Great and Little Yews, I think the Cherkley Court 

 Yew Wood is the best in England ; and, thanks to the kindness of A. Dixon, Esq., 

 the owner, I am able to give some particulars of this interesting place, which Lowe 

 thought to be the finest collection of yews in existence. 



The wood covers an area of 50 to 60 acres in a shallow valley forming part 

 of the old Ashurst estate, about three miles from Leatherhead in Surrey, on the east 

 side of the old pilgrims' road to Canterbury. It was formerly a rabbit warren, but 

 is now carefully preserved by Mr. Dixon. It is said that 500 yew trees were once 

 sold out of this wood by Mr. Boxall for 10 guineas each, and these two facts will 

 probably account for the fact that there are now scarcely any young trees coming up, 

 and but few trees with straight, tall trunks. Their average height does not exceed 

 about 40 feet, and the majority of them are not well-grown trees, but there are 

 some of great girth, of which the best is called the Queen Yew, and measures 

 14 feet 6 inches at i foot from the ground ; then swelling out in a peculiar way and 

 measuring 20 feet 4 inches at about 4 feet. At this height it begins to branch, and 

 though the main stem goes up some way, the whole tree is certainly under 50 feet 

 in height. 



One of the most curious trees in this grove, called the Cauliflower Yew, was 

 figured in the Gardeners Chronicle, and copied in Veitch's Conifercs, ed. ii. p. 128. 

 This tree has now lost much of its beauty, owing to a heavy snowstorm which 

 occurred in 1884 and which did serious damage to the Cherkley Yew Wood. 



Another place of great interest to naturalists, where the yew is in great 

 abundance, is Castle Eden Dene, in Durham, the property of Rowland Burdon, 

 Esq. This locality is renowned among botanists as the last in England where the 

 ladies' slipper orchid {Cypripediuni Calceolus) still exists. It is a deep valley about 

 3 to 4 miles long, running down to the sea, and, in some places, has steep cliffs of a 



